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THE niGHT OF COLORED PEOPLE TO EDUCATION, VINDICATE! 



T 



ANDREW T. JUDSON, ESQ. 

AND OTHERS IN CANTERBURY, 

REMONSTRATING WITH THEM ON THEIR UNJUS 

AND 

UNJUSTIFIABLE PROCEDURE RELATIVE 

TO 

MISS CRANDALL AND HER SCHOOL 

FOR 

COLORED FEMALES, 



Minister of the 1st Church in Brooklyn, {Conn.) 



BROOKLYN: 

ADVERTISER PRES 

1833. 




I 






LETTE 



Brooklyn, March 29, 183$. 

ANDREW T. JUDSON, ESQ. 

Sir: — I left Canterbury, after the 
town-meeting on the 9th ult. grieved that so large a number of per- 
sons could be so completely misled by the art and influence of a few 
individuals; and ashamed that in Connecticut (which claims to be the 
most enlightened and moral State in our Union,) a community of 
freemen could be found, who would thus yield themselves to be the 
instruments of such injustice and cruelty. 

From your high official standing, Sir, both in the town and state, 
it was to have been expected that you would have endeavored to al- 
lay the popular excitement, and to persuade your fellow-citizens to 
act advisedly. So far from it, however, you were the prominent ac- 
tor on the occasion; and exerted yourself beyond measure to heat 
the imaginations of your hearers, to enkindle their bitterest feelings 
against Miss Crandall and her friends, and to hurry them on to an 
immediate decision — a decision which can reflect no honor upon the 
town; and which, if it cannot be reversed, may indirectly affect the 
happiness of millions in our land. 

I therefore take the liberty thus publicly to plead with you, and 
with your fellow-citizens. Nay — Sir, I have a right to claim from 
yourself, and from the people of Canterbury, and from the commu- 
nity at large, some attention to the defence I am about to offer of 
Miss Crandall's most benevolent project; of the part I have acted on 
her behalf; and of the sentiments and purposes Gf those Gentlemen, 



who with myself have encouraged her undertaking. I solemnly 
aver, that so far as I know any thing about that young lady, or her 
patrons, or my own intentions, we have all been grossly misrepre- 
Bented and traduced. 

It was not until about the time of Miss Crandall's return from 
New-York, that I received the first intimation of her design to open 
her School for the education of colored females. I expressed to my 
informant, my heartfelt satisfaction that there was one so near ine, 
who would dare to brave the prejudices of the public, so far as to 
devote herself to that great "labor of love." The young lady was 
then an entire stranger to me. I had heard however of her good 
reputation as a teacher in Canterbury and Plainfield, and, better than 
that, of her great integrity of mind, benevolence of heart, and en- 
ergy of purpose; and therefore I determined to hold myself in read- 
iness to aid her, if my assistance should be needed by her in any 
way. 

A few days afterwards, i. e. on the 27th of February, I was fur- 
ther informed that she had made her intention publicly known in 
your town, and that the people there, were, in consequence, filled 
with indignation at her, especially yourself and her immediate neigh- 
bors. Not having received from Miss Crandall any notice of her 
plan (though my deep interest in the melioration of the condition of 
our colored brethren must be well known in this vicinity,) I at first 
concluded, that she might prefer to avoid receiving any assistance 
from me, because perhaps of her strong objections to my religious 
opinions. On further reflection however, it seemed to be my duty 
to proffer her a helping hand, which she would be at liberty to ac- 
cept or reject as she might choose. Accordingly on the 28th I wrote 
her a hasty letter, of which the following is an exact copy. 

Brooklyn, Feb. 28, 183S. 

Miss Cuandall. 

Although I am a stranger to you I shall offer no 
apology for addressing you. 

The cause, which I hear you have espoused, is one which has 
long been deeply interesting to me. My situation and engagements 
have prevented my doing as much in behalf of our colored brethren, 
as I fain would have done. Last week I heard indirectly from Dr. 
Green that you proposed to open a boarding school for colored girls. 
The intelligence rejoiced my heart, and I determined to do all in my 
power to assist you. You are probably well aware that my religious 
sentiments have rendered me obnoxious to the suspicion, and ill-will 
of the Clergy, and a considerable proportion of the people in tlii^ 
yicinity. This may lessen very much my ability to serve you. But 



I wish you would command my services in any way in which you 
think I can be useful to you. 

Last evening Chauncy Morse informed me thattnere was con- 
siderable excitement in Canterbury, in consequence of your propo- 
sal. This was to have been expected, so inveterate are the preju- 
dices of the people against the Blacks. But it is disgraceful to any 
community pretending to be Christian. I would enlarge upon this 
topic, but I feel too deeply to write in a proper temper. 

It has been intimated that there is to be even a town-meeting to 
prevent you from carrying your plan into operation. If there is, I 
shall endeavor to attend it. But how do they purpose to prevent 
you? It has occurred to me that your conspicuous residence in the 
village mi"-ht render your plan more objectiouable to those, who are 
so hostile to the blacks. Perhaps your removal to some more retir- 
ed situation would at once allay the violence of your opponents, and 
be more favorable to your pupils, who would not be so exposed to 
insult as they might be where you now are. 

I should be very happy to see you at my house — or I will come 
and see you, if a visit, from such a heretic as I am accounted, would 
not increase the ill-will of your neighbors towards you. 
Yours in the cause of the oppressed. 

S. J. MAY. 

It was not until the following Monday (March 4th) that I receiv- 
ed her reply, in which she assured rne that I could be of service to 
her, and requested me to visit her as soon as might be convenient to 
myself. About the same moment, the Liberator for March 2d came 
to hand, in which I saw for the first time the Advertisement of her 
school, and my name in the list of those to whom she referred. — 
This satisfied me, that she had relied upon my co-operation. I there- 
fore set off immediately for Canterbury, in company with a mutual 
friend. 

Every thing we gathered from Miss Crandall, and from others 
with whom we conversed, satisfied us that a most determined effort 
would be made at the town meeting, then warned, to prevent the 
prosecution of her benevolent plan. Regarding it not, by any means 
as a local, town affair, but on the contrary as affecting indirectly the 
happiness of millions of the American people, Ave were deeply im- 
pressed with the importance of sustaining the school. Should a se- 
cond attempt to provide for the better education of our colored 
people, be put down by the popular clamor in New-England, (the 
land of schools) discouragement we feared would enfeeble the ef- 
forts of many, who are now laboring to meliorate the condition of 
this immense body of the inhabitants of our land. The location of 
the school in your village wa3 not indeed a matter, in itself consid- 
ered, of any moment. But that the school should not be abandoi - 



ed 3 we deemed a matter of the utmost consequence. As therefore 
it so happened, that Miss Crandall was already established in Can- 
terbury, it was obviously right in our view, that she should be sus- 
tained there; at least until her opponents or her patrons should pro- 
vide her with a suitable situation elsewhere. And such a situation 
we thought could not easily be obtained any where else, if she were 
first to relinquish the one she now has. For wherever we looked, 
wo saw reason to believe, that there too would be found much of the 
same feeling of hostility to the people of color; added to which would 
be the disgrace that would follow her and her school, wherever she 
might go — the disgrace of having been expelled from your town as 
a nuisance. 

We have long since perceived how deep and inveterate, even in 
New-England, are the prejudices of the whites against those of Af- 
rican descent. We have apprehended, that ero our colored brethren 
will have any chance to rise to that intellectual and moral elevation, 
which they may doubtless reach, there would need to be a conflict 
between those great republican principles, on which our civil insti- 
tutions are based, and that aristocracy of color which has become 
hereditary among us. It seemed to us that, in the course of Provi- 
dence we were called to take a part in this conflict. We did not 
dare to shrink from it; nor to advise Miss Crandall to withdraw, let 
the consequences to her or to ourselves be what they might. Wo 
therefore exhorted her to be steadfast — meekly to bear the injuries 
that might be heaped upon her; and in hope of the good she would 
bo instrumental in doing, to despise the shame she would incur. — 
We also promised to afford her all the assistance in our power; and 
assured her she might rely upon those who had encouraged her un- 
dertaking; upon others who were doubtless watching with deepest 
interest the result; and above all upon Him who will prosper the 
cause that is right. 

The injurious reports which were busily circulated respecting Miss 
Crandall, and the friends of her school, filled.her and us with appre- 
hension, that her sentiments and purposes would be sadly misrepre- 
sented at the approaching town meeting. Who would be there to 
speak in her behalf? A sense of propriety forbade her appearing 
in person. She knew of no one that would venture to breast the 
current of public sentiment, that was set against her. Fearing 
that the prejudices which prevail in your town against my religion:} 
opinions, might only aggravate the public odium if I should appear 



there in her stead,* I hesitated some time whether it would be advis- 
able for me to undertake her defence. But as there was no one else, 
in the town or neighborhood, that she supposed would be willing to 
stand up for her, she strongly expressed her desire that I would do 
so. She agreed to give me a written request to the Moderator of the 
meeting, that I might be permitted to speak in explanation and de- 
fence of her sentiments and purposes. 

When I went again to Canterbury on the 9th of March, I found 
at Miss Grandad's house, Arnold Buffum, the Agent, of the New- 
England Anti-Slavery Society. Having heard that he was at Nor- 
wich, in the prosecution of his official duty, she had been to that ei- 
ty the day previous, and induced him to come to Canterbury to help 
her. I had had the pleasure of seeing that gentleman two or three 
times. I knew that he was an able advocate of the rights of the op 
pressed; and rejoiced that he was permitted to be there. It was at 
onee determined, that ho should be her principal attorney at the 
meeting. She however requested me also to speak on her behalf; 
and I had now become so deeply interested in the cause, that I longed 
for an opportunity to advocate it. 

Mr. Buffum and myself accordingly proceeded to the house, where 
we found the meeting already organized. Asael Bacon, Esq. Mod- 
erator. Andrew T. Judson. Esq. Clerk. Looking about us, I per- 
ceived many persons present from neighboring towns, who came 
there, as I have reason to believe with no very friendly regard to- 
wards the proposed school. I assure you and the public, that I went 
to Canterbury not knowing that a single individual was to be at the 
meeting besides the inhabitants of the town, excepting only the 
young gentleman who accompanied me. I had not heard that Mr. 
Buffum was in the region; and I was equally surprised when I saw 
the two young men from Providence ("boisterous boys" as you have 
called them,) enter the house. In the gallery there w r ere two or 
three decent looking colored men. Who they were I did not know, 
but at the time supposed them to belong to your town. I saw no- 
thing in their deportment at all improper, though if they had mani- 
fested great displeasure at some of your remarks, I should not have 
wondered. I am thus particular, because you have endeavered 
through the Norwich papers to make the public believe, that the 
friends of Miss Crandall's school presented themselves at your "per- 
fectly orderly meeting" in a most formidable array, as if to awe your 



"Though I meant to be there as a witness of your proceedings. 



citizens into a Compliance with their wishes. Permit me to ?a/ Sir, 
if you or some of your coadjutors had adopted the precaution of 
"taking notes" at the time, (for which precaution you seem to be of- 
fended at one of the Providence young men,) you probably would 
have given as correct an account of the meeting as he has done in 
"the Liberator,*'* and uot have committed so many mistakes in your 
communications to the Norwich papers, as must be apparent to all 
who were witnesses of what you have therein attempted to de- 
scribe. 

After "the warning'' had been read, the following Resolutions? 
wore laid before the meeting by Rufus Adams, Esq. viz: — 

"Whereas, it hath been publicly avowed that a school is to be open- 
ed in this town, on the first Monday of April next, using the lan- 
guage ot the advertisement, "for young ladies and little misses of 
color," or in other words, for the people of color, the obvious ten- 
dency of which, would be, to collect within the town of Canterbury 
large numbers of persons, from other States, whose characters and 
habits might be various and unknown to us, thereby rendering in- 
secure the persons, property, and reputation of our citizens — 

Under such circumstances our sileoco might be construed into an 
approbation of the project. 

Therefore Resolved, That the location of a school for the people 
of color, at any place within the limits of this town, for the admis- 
sion of persons from foreign jurisdictions, meets with our unequivo- 
cal disapprobbation, and it is to be understood that the inhabitants 
of Canterbury, protest against it, in the most earnest manner. 

Resolved, That a Committee be now appointed, to be composed 
of the Civil Authority and Select Men, who shall make known to 
the person contemplating the establishment of said school, the senti- 
ments and objections entertained by this meeting, in reference to 
said school, pointing out to her, the injurious effects, and the incal- 
culable evils, resulting from sueh an establishment within this town, 
and persuade her, it possible, to abandon the project." 

Mr. Adams accompanied the presentation of these resolves with 
a speech, in which he attempted to set forth the causes of complaint^ 
which the town of Canterbury had against Miss Crandall. But, I 
am sorry to say, ho sadly misrepresented her sentiments and purpo- 



*I suspect no one will undertake to prove the statements, made by IT. E. 
Benson, untrue in any one material point. But he is not, nor is any one but 
the Editor of the Liberator, responsible for the heading and the remarks pre- 
fixed to the Letter; nor for the black letter type, in which the names of certain 
individuals in Canterbury are signalized. 1 respect and love Mr. Garrison's 
fervent devotion to the cause of the oppressed, and his fearlessness in reprov- 
ing the oppressors; but no one can disapprove, more than I do, the harshness 
of his epithets, and the bitterness of his invectives. 



fees; and made several most ungenerous insinuations against her mo- 
tives. 

As soon as he sat down, you took the floor. I shall not pretend 
to repeat all that you said, nor to describe minutely the style of your 
address. It was a most inglorious exploit! And oh Sir! what a 
golden opportunity you lost, on that day, to act as a true patriot and 
genuine philanthropist should have done; ay, to illustrate the princi- 
ples of a real republican! It is much more difficult, I grant, but how 
much more honorable is it to withstand public prejudice, and labor 
to enlighten and correct it, than it is to avail ourselves of its blind- 
ness and impetuosity to accomplish some selfish purpose, or gratify 
some private feelings ! Who Sir, have ever been instrumental in 
tho melioration of the human condition, or the advance of knowl- 
edge and virtue, but they who have dared to oppose public error, 
and even defy public odium ? I deeply lament, Sir, that you did not 
perceive, or that you chose not to pursue the course, in which the 
principles of our civil institutions, as well as the precepts of tne 
gospel would have guided and sustained you. To whom Sir, should 
they, who, condescending to men of low estate, would labor to in- 
struct and raise them, to whom I ask should such look for encour- 
agement, if not to those who profess to believe that all men are born 
with equal rights — that the King of Kings and Lord of Lords is no 
respecter of persons? But all such reliance upon you, Sir, it seems 
would have been misplaced. You vented yourself in a strain 
which evinced your reckless hostility to Miss Crandall, her school 
and her patrons; and your determination to do every thing in your 
power to thwart her project. You twanged every chord that could 
stir th coarser passions of the human heart; and with such sad suc- 
cess that your hearers seemed to have lost for the time their percep- 
tion of right and wrongs The remarks that were made by yourself and 
by othersj were adapted to make an impression of this sort upon the 
minds of your fellow-citizens, — that a great calamity was impending- 
over your town, of which Miss Crandall was the author, or the in- 
strument — that there were powerful conspirators combined with her 
in the plot— and that the people of Canterbury should be roused by 
every consideration of self-respect and self-preservation, to prevent 
the accomplishment of the design, defying the wealth and influence 
of all who were abettors of it. 

When I supposed you were done, though it appears from the ac- 
count in the Norwich paper I was mistaken— but certainly not until 
I thought you had drawn your remarks to a close— I whispered to 



10 

Mr. Buffum, it is now high time for us to present Miss Crandall v 
request to be heard. He therefore, being the one on whom her de- 
fence was chiefly to rest, first handed her respectful petition to the 
Moderator. I watched until he had read it, and passed it to you, 
and you had read it; and I then gave to the Moderator a similar bil- 
let from Miss Crandall, praying that I also might be permitted to 
speak on her behalf. For reasons however, known only to yourself 
and to Him who sees all hearts, youreversed the order of our certi- 
ficates, when you read them to the meeting. But let this pass. It 
might have been accidental. 

You instantly broke forth with even more violence than before,, 
and accused us of insulting the town, and interfering in the manage- 
ment of its local concerns. Other gentlemen arose in high displeas- 
ure, (Mr. Solomon Payne in particular,) and opposed Miss Cran- 
dall's petition; and very roughly admonished us, that if we dared to 
interfere, we should suffer the penalty which the Law prescribes. — 
Of course we did not dare to interfere; and so we sat quietly until 
the dissolution of the meeting. But we dare now to appeal from 
your decision; and we do appeal in full confidence that it will be re- 
versed by the opinion of the fair minded, and impartial, every where. 
It is necessary that I should dwell for a moment upon this point, be- 
cause it has been made so prominent by yourself and your coadju- 
tors. Not only has Rumor with her thousand tongues spread every- 
where the slander, that Mr. Buffum and Mr. May thrust themselves 
into a peaceable town meeting in Canterbury, and interfered with 
the business of the town; but the same false accusation is brought 
against us in the public prints. It is not true that we asked leave to 
address the meeting. Miss Crandall asked leave to be heard by us, 
her sex forbidding her to advocate her own cause. "We said not a 
word : but simply put into the hand of the Moderator a written re- 
quest from Miss Crandall. We were silent, because we were not 
permitted to speak. How then did we interfere ? The meeting was 
called for the sole purpose of opposing a project started by that 
young lady. Her sentiments and purposes were misrepresented, by 
you and others, and even her integrity called in question. And 
where Sir, was your sense of justice, where your honor, to say no- 
thing of your gallantry, when you opposed, as you did with vehe- 
mence of passion, her being heard iu reply? A young lady was 
accused by you and others before the assembly of the people, ay, 
and in the presence of her aged father, accused of entertaining sen- 
timents and purposes which excited the public disgust, and no one 



II 

was permitted to speak in her defence ! Where will you find an 
upright man, who will say this was fair? You will not Sir, I hope 
pretend to justify it yourself. You have been so long accustomed 
to the proceedings of our Courts of Justice, in which no judgment 
is ever given, until both parties have been patiently heard, that you 
Sir, of all others, should have seen at a glance the propriety of Miss 
Crandall's claim to be heard; and should have had the honor to in- 
sist on her right to speak by those, whom she chose to represent her 
sentiments and purposes, and vindicate her character. I did expect 
as much as this from you, although I had been told of the violence 
of your opposition to the proposed school; for I would not suppose 
there was a Lawyer, of good standing in this community, that would 
claim at any tribunal a verdict in favor of the side he espoused, un- 
til after the opposite counsel had been heard. I am now compelled 
to believe, that you were afraid to submit the case in question to a 
fair investigation. You relied upon the prejudices of the people; 
and having excited them to the utmost, hurried on a decision which 
you plainly foresaw would gratify your wishes. If this be not the 
just inference, why were you so much offended at the presence of 
Mr. Buffinn and myself? And why did you show so much passion 
when we presented Miss Crandall's request to be heard by us? 

You sought to turn off the minds of your fellow-citizens, from the 
very proper request of that defenceless young lady, by holding us 
up as foreigners who had come there to interfere. And you have 
since pressed this accusation of foreign interference with so much 
urgency, that I am persuaded you rely, for the justification of your 
own conduct, upon the impression you may make on the public mind 
by this charge against us. Calling us foreigners (especially those 
of us who live in an adjoining town) would be only a ludicrous mis- 
nomer, if it had not been obviously applied by you for a sinister 
purpose. 

Of course Sir, there are town rights, as well as state rights, which 
every individual is bound to respect, and every town competent to 
maintain. If I have violated those rights I shall be most anxious to 
make to the people of Canterbury a public apology. But surely 
the rights and interests of any town are not to be regarded as of 
equal, much less of paramount importance to the rights and inter- 
ests of larger portions of the community. To maintain that they 
arc, would be to maintain a wilder doctrine than our South Caroli- 
na brethren ever broached. Nor are the rights of any town to be 
considered ns] of equal, much less of paramount importance to the 



12 

eternal principles of right, and truth, and justice. Whenever there- 
lore any town is seen to be pursuing a measure that will be preju- 
dicial to other portions of community, those not belonging to that 
particular town have a right to interfere. There can he nothing 
wrong in their going into that town, and asking leave of the town to 
remonstrate with them against the measure. If permission be not 
given, they are then left with the right to call the measure in ques- 
tion before a common tribunal. So too, if the procedure of a town 
is likely to be unnecessarily injurious to an individual, whether that 
individual be a resident in the town or not, he has a right to inter- 
fere — he has a right to present himself at the town meeting where 
such a procedure is to be determined on, and claim to be heard. If 
he be an inhabitant of the town he may speak without special per- 
mission; if not an inhabitant, he must obtain permission. In neither 
case however is he doing wrong. And if he cannot present him- 
self in person, oris unable to speak, he obvieusly has a right to ap- 
point an advocate: and the town would obviously do wrong if they 
refused to hear the advocate. Now, will you Sir, say that he must 
select for his advocate one who is an inhabitant of the town in which 
the meeting is convened? I trust not. How futile then was } r our 
objection to us that we were foreigners ! and how false the accusa- 
tion, which you have reiterated, that we interfered, or were dispos- 
ed to interfere (in an improper manner at least,) with the business 
of your town meeting.* If the question, to be considered on that 
occasion, had been altogether local, still as it deeply involved the 
interests and character of one who could not with propriety be pre- 
sent, she had a right to delegate one or more to appear for her. And 
as she knew of no one in the town, who would be willing to under- 
take her defence, she was under the necessity of seeking assistance 
from some joreigners, as you are pleased to call those who do not 
live within the limits of Canterbury. I leave it for all honorable 
men to decide between us, whether on this supposition I should have 
done wrong to go to the meeting; and whether you would have done 
right to oppose my being heard at her request? 

But Sir, the question at that meeting was not one of local interest 

*A gentleman of Plajnfield has assured me, that some years ago, Andrew 
T Judson, Esq. himself, attended a town meeting inPlainfield, and asked per- 
mission to speak upon the subject under consideration; that permission was 
given him, and he did address the meeting. The gentlemau did not recollect 
the subject. But it is a matter of no consequence what the subject was, in 
order to test the principle If it were a less important one, than that at Can- 
terbury there was the less reason for the interference. 



13 

merely. It was intimately connected with the greatest question our 
nation is now called upon to decide — i. e. whether our immense col- 
ored population shall henceforth he permitted to rise among us, as 
they may be able, in intellectual and moral worth; or be kept down 
in hopeless degradation, until in the providence of a just God they 
may throw off the yoke of their oppressors, with vindictive vio- 
lence. Such Sir, was the magnitude of the question agitated at 
Canterbury on the 9th of March. So momentous was it in my view, 
that I should have attended the discussion, even if Miss Crandall 
had not called on me to advocate her cause. And so deeply inter- 
esting is the question to our whole country, that I cannot think 
I should have been guilty of any great impropriety if, with- 
out her certificate, I had respectfully asked permission to address 
your fellow-citizens. Had leave been given mo , I could have 
assured them, that there was no intention or wish on tho part of 
those who will patronize the school, to injure your village or incom- 
mode an individual in it; but that they would be ready at any tima 
to have it removed to any more retired spot, wherever such an insti- 
tution could be suitably accommodated. And I should have plead 
with you and your neighbors Sir, with all the earnestness in my 
power, that, in view of the momentous connexions and dependen- 
cies of the question, you would so far forego your prepossessions 
and prejudices, as to decide that a School for the better education of 
those, who of all others in our land need it most, might be permitted 
to remain unmolested where it happens in the providence of God to 
have been located. 

I will not detain you and the public longer Sir, with this direct ex- 
culpation of Mr. Buffum and myself. It might be easily shown that 
several other statements in the Norwich papers are untrue-, and that 
the whole account of the meeting is highly discolored.* Our pres- 
ence there evidently disturbed the feelings of yourself and those who 
were leagued with you against Miss CrandalPs school. But we nei- 
ther did nor said any thing to disturb the meeting. When we carri- 
ed Miss CrandalPs certificates to the Moderator, we did so as quietly 
as possible. And when we spake to each other, which we did but 
three or four times, it was in a whisper. 

*It may not be improper here to inform the public that one of the Civil Au- 
thority, whose name appears in the Norwich Courier, was not at the meeting 
— that another has been since heard, by three witnesses, to say that some of 
the statements in that, address to the American Colonization Society were not 
true; and also I believe that not more than two or three of the Authority 
remained after the meeting, to hear the remarks by Mr. Buffum and mvselt'. 



14 

So soon as the meeting was dissolved, I called upon the people to 
hear us. Perhaps io this, I misjudged. Bat I thought, after what 
had been alleged against Miss Craudall, our absent friends and our- 
selves, that we ought to speak, when we could do so without impro- 
priety. What we said, those who heard us can testify. I can only 
aver that neither Mr. Uurruni's language nor my own was what it is 
represented to have been in the Norwich Republican, 
I am Sir, not a foreigner, but 

Your fellow-citizen, 

SAMUEL J. MAY. 



LETT E 



Brooklyn, April 6, 1833. 

ANDREW T. JUDSON, ESQ. 

Sir; — I intend now to consider 
some of the charges brought by you and others against Miss Cran- 
dall; and some of the objections urged against her proposed school; 
correcting as I proceed, some of the many misrepresentations, which 
were given (and have been reiterated,) of the sentiments and pur- 
poses of those, who have encouraged her undertaking. 

The first complaint or charge, if I remember correctly, which was 
alleged at the town meeting on the 9th, was that Bliss Craudall had 
perverted her school from its original purpose. 'She was introdu- 
ced here,' said one or more of her accusers 1 , 'to instruct our children. 
We gave her our patronage and our confidence. She has set aside 
the one, and abused the other, and is now about to introduce into 



15 

the town a class of persons whose presence will be offensive to us. 1 
I do not give this as the precise language, but as the substance of 
the charge; and the same is repeated in the Norwich papers. It 
struck me at the time, that the tone of the complaint implied that 
you had conferred upon this young lady a much greater amount of 
favors, than she has in fact received. All that has been done for 
her, by the Ladies and Gentlemen of Canterbury, has been to en- 
courage her opening a school there, which surely was as much for 
their own accommodation, as for her benefit. The favor was then 
at least mutual. But I am one Sir, who regard a capable and faith- 
ful Teacher of youth as a greater benefactor to the community, 
than the community is to her. Will you tell me she was furnished 
with money ? Very true. But did she not give the lender good se- 
curity for the repayment of the loan, with lawful interest? The 
house in which she resides was purchased by herself, and she is 
still indebted for it to a considerable amount. If the establishment 
had been bought and fitted up for her by her patrons, they would 
unquestionably have the right to insist that it should be still appro- 
priated to its original purpose, or else given back into their hands. 
But they cannot pretend to so much as this. Unless therefore you 
and your neighbors have good reason to believe, that she had her 
present plan in contemplation when she came into your village; and 
that she availed herself of your patronage only that she might get 
herself established there, all the while intending to enter as soon as 
possible upon the course now proposed — I repeat, unless you have 
good reason to believe this, you have no reason to be offended with 
her. Now I have never heard this alleged. Nor do I suppose she 
ever thought of devoting herself to the instruction of colored fe- 
males until last Fall, after she had been resident among you a year 
or more. She has not been bribed nor persuaded by others, to this 
undertaking. The circumstances which have led her to it, (as she 
relates them) seem to have been providential. How could she re- 
sist the convictions Avrought in her mind? How could she refuse 
to obey them, without disregarding a higher obligation, than any she 
is under to her patrons? Some men may sneer if they will, at what 
is called a sense of duty. There is such a thing. And when it is 
awakened in the human breast it leads one to act with a determina- 
tion, consistency and fearlessness, which is never to be seen in the 
conduct of the selfish, calculating and worldly. 

The next charge was that Miss C. went off to Providence, Boston 
and New-York to make arrangements for her proposed school, with- 



16 

out ! a iug apprised her neighbors of her intention, asked their ad- 
vice, or consulted their wishes; Surely, Sir, it was not her fault that 
none of the people of Canterbury were known to ieel so much com- 
miseration for the colored people in our land, that she could hope 
for encouragement from them to pursue her intention to labor for 
their good. 

But it has been repeatedly said of her since, if it was not alleged 
against her at the meeting, that she was guilty of falsehood or at least 
prevarication respecting the object of her journies. This is indeed 
a grave accusation. The untruth is said to have been this: when 
asked by some one or more, why she was going to the above named 
cities, she replied, to visit schools and procure school apparatus; 
whereas it now appears that she went to seek patrons and pupils for 
her school, under the new arrangement. Miss Craudall's reply to 
this accusation is, that she had for sometime previous contemplated 
a visit to the schools in the various parts of our country — that she 
had long felt the need of more apparatus, and that such a journey 
as she has lately made would have been ere long necessary, if she had 
not proposed the important alteration that has taken place in her 
school. She adds that when about to leave home, she was wholly 
unacquainted with the friends of the colored people, excepting by 
reputation • and did not know that they would approve of her design; 
and that she therefore felt herself justified in accpiainting those of 
her neighbors who inquired, with only a part of the objects of her 
journey. She assuros me, and is ready to prove to her opposers if 
they wish, that while absent from Canterbury she did visit eight 
different schools in Providence and Boston. If she had not met 
with so much encouragement to open her school for colored females 
she would have devoted more of her time to similar examinations; 
and this would then have become the principal purpose of her jour- 
ney. But finding so many persons, where she went, deeply inter- 
ested in her proposal; and so large a number of pupils ready to bo 
placed under her care; this assumed that prominence among the 
purposes of her journey, which it doubtless had in her thoughts. — 
Now Sir, I am willing to leave this explanation with the public, as 
she has left it with me; aud I have no doubt it would satisfy even 
yourself and her opposers, if you were in a state of mind that would 
permit you to judge impartially. 

Again; it was, (by more than one of the Speakers at your town 
meeting,) objected to the school proposed by Miss Crandall, that it 
would greatly lessen the value of property in your village, by ren- 



17 

dering it no longer a desirable place of residence. One gentleman; 
[f not more, intimated that he should wish to sell out his property, 
and move off. If this depreciation of real estate will be consequent 
upon the establishment of her school, the effect should be attributed 
to its true cause; not to that benevolent institution, but to the preju- 
dices of those who would crush it. If you and the other gentlemen 
who have become so unhappily conspicuous, had interested your- 
selves as much as all patriots and philanthropists in our country 
should have done long ago in the condition of that immense portion 
of the American people, which is held in degradation, you would 
have rejoiced to hear that an experiment was to be made so near 
you to benefit them; and would have watched its operation with in- 
creasing satisfaction. But if on the contrary, you hare cherished 
your unrighteous prejudices against them — prejudices which have 
no deeper foundation than their skins, unless it be in that deep de- 
gradation itself, to which they have been consigned by our govern- 
ment, in despite of the principles on which our government rests, — 
I repeat Sir, if you and other gentlemen in Canterbury have cher- 
ished your prejudices against them to such an extent, that you can- 
not bear even to have a few of them resident among you — who is 
to blame? Who but yourselves? Although therefore, you may, 
through the influence of the same prejudices in the breasts of your 
earthly judges, escape utter condemnation at the bar of public opin- 
ion; can you expect a similar impunity at the tribunal of the Most 
High ? He is no respecter of persons ! He does not regard the 
rich and mighty, more than the poor, and the despised! The cause 
of truth and righteousness — the melioration of the human condition 
has never made any advance, but in opposition to the wishes of a 
cert aim sort of men. Ought the cause at any time to have been aban- 
doned on their account? The preaching of Paul at Ephesus was 
very prejudicial to one Demetrius, and a few other silversmiths; and 
they succeeded in raising an uproar, and making it appear to be an 
affair of great consequence to all the Ephesians. But Sir, did you 
ever think Paul was to blame in that matter? 

In a pecuniary point of view, such a seminary will doubtless be 
beneficial to the inhabitants of Canterbury. Thirty or forty tempo- 
rary residents will be introduced among you to be clothed, fed and 
warmed, as well as instructed; thus making a considerable addition 
to the class of consumers. Some of them will be the daughters of 
men of wealth; and all of them supported there by their parents or 
relatives,* who are able and willing to pay all their expences. — 
However, to quiet the fears ef those who are, or pretend to be, ap- 
prehensive that some of Miss Crandall's colored pupils may become 
chargeable to the town, the patrons of her school hold themselves 
in readiness to give bonds, in any amount that may be required, to 
eecure the town from all such harm. 



*There is a solitary exception among those who are now engaged, the very 
honorable exception of a young woman, now keeping a school in New-York, 
who by her own frugality has accumulated enough to defray her expenses for 
half of a year. She will be assisted by a gentleman of that city, to complete 



18 

Nothing, I am confident, could have been further from Miss 
Crandall 's intention, than to do her neighbors any injury. And Sir, 
you may rest assured, the gentlemen referred to in her Advertise- 
ment would not uphold her a moment in violating any of your 
rights. The determination she has formed to devote herself to the 
education of colored females, we cannot but highly approve. Her 
residence in your village is altogether a providential circumstance. — 
We should encourage her benevolent enterprise, wherever it might 
be undertaken. And if a suitable situation can be provided for her, 
in some place where her neighbors would assist and cheer her, or 
where they would only not molest her, we should rejoice to have 
her remove thither.f But you declared, in the town meeting, that the 
school should not be located in any part of Canterbury — and also 
that there is not a town in the State which would admit such a 
seminary within its borders. It is therefore all the more necessary 
that she should be sustained where she now is. It is to be deeply 
regretted that yourself and others are opposed to her. We think 
you are doing yourselves no honor; and more than that, we are per- 
suaded you are helping to perpetuate the great iniquity, and the deep 
disgrace of our country. The question between us is not simply 
whether thirty or forty colored girls shall be well educated at a 
school to be kept in Canterbury; but whether the people in any part 
of our land will recognize and generously protect the "inalienable 
rights of man," without distinction of color? If this be not done, 
in Connecticut, where else in our land can we expect it will be done, 
at least in our day? That it cannot be done even in this State with- 
out a struggle is now most shamefully obvious. A year or two since, 
some benevolent individuals proposed to erect an institution, at New 
Haven, for the education of colored young men. The design was 
defeated by violent opposition. If the citizens had opposed merely 
its location in that City, they might have escaped condemnation, for 
such a seminary there might have been very prejudicial to Yale Col- 
lege. But it was only too apparent, that their hostility to the insti- 
tution was peculiarly embittered by their prejudices against the 
color of those, who were to be educated at it. So too in the case at 
Canterbury; no one pretends there would have been any opposition 
to Miss Crandall's school, if her pupils were to be white. The tinc- 
ture of their skin then it is which has called out all the men of in- 
fluence in array against her; and has even procured from the free- 
men of the town an expression of their "unqualified disapprobation" 
of her plan. 

Here then, in Connecticut, we have had two recent instances of 
outrage committed upon "the inalienable rights of man." Among 
these rights, to use the language of the Declaration of Indepen- 



a year with Miss Crandall. 

tAn offer may have been made to Miss Crandall by responsible individu- 
als to purchase her house, as stated in the Courier; but we beg the public to 
take notice, that the offer implied an abandonment of the project. No pro- 
posal has been made to her to procure her some other suitable situation in lieu 
of the one she now has. Such a proposal would have been acceded to. 



19 

denccc "are life, liberty, and tha pursuit of happiness." Now Ed- 
ucation has from the first, been regarded in this State highly condu- 
cive to the private happiness, and the public weal. Yet have our 
colored brethren been twice angrily denied permission to seek thia 
blessing, to the extent that they have desired. Will the people of 
Connecticut generally, countenance these violations of our civil and 
religious principles? If they will, let them no longer claim to be a 
republican, much less a christian people! 

The appeals, you have made in the public newspapers, are very 
similar to those you urged at the town meeting on the 9th. I trust 
however they may be shown to rest upon mistakes or prejudicss. 

Throughout your remarks it was continually implied, and some- 
times offensively expressed, that Africans and their descendants are 
naturally, as well as actually, inferior to the white varieties of the 
human race. This notion has become so prevalent through our 
country, that I suppose it is generally received as resting upon an 
indubitable fact; and so few take pains to examine the ground of it. 
If there were room within the limits, to which I must restrict my- 
self, I could easily lay before you enough of the results of those in- 
quiries, which physiologists have pursued into this matter, to show 
you that the teaching of our Sacred Scriptures on this point is de- 
serving of so much higher deference, than your prejudices have per- 
mitted you to pay to it. Causes enough have been in operation to 
produce all the varieties of men, which we now behold among tho 
descendants of the primitive pair. I might also adduce many in- 
stances of Africans, who under the withering influences which have 
surrounded their race for the last three hundred years, have yet ris- 
en to a considerable elevation in science, literature, and moral ex- 
cellence. But I shall leave their defence for the present in far abler 
bands. The Massachusetts Colonization Society at its last Annual 
Meeting, February 9, was addressed by Hon. Alexander H. Everett, 
one of the ripest scholars, and most distinguished civilians in our 
land. Having spoken at some length of the new hopes of Africa, 
which seem to be kindling in many bosoms, and having pointed out 
the benefits which may be conferred upon that benighted land by 
colonies planted there from this country and Europe, he said 

"But, Sir, we are sometimes told that the African is a degraded 
member of the human family — that a man with a dark skin and curl- 
ed hair is necessarily, as such, incapable of improvement and civi- 
lization, and condemned by the vice of his physical conformation to 
vegetate forever in a state of hopeless barbarism. Mr. President, I 
reject with contempt and indignation this miserable heresy. In re- 
plying to it, the friends of truth and humanity have not hitherto 
done justice to the argument. In order to prove that the blacka 
were capable of intellectual efforts, they have painfully collected a 
few imperfect specimens of what some of them have done in thia 
way, even in the degraded condition which they occupy at present 
in Christendom. Sir, this is not the way to treat the subject. Go 
back to an earlier period in the history of our race. See what the 
blacks were, and what they did, three thousand years ago, in the pe- 
riod of their greatness and glory, when they occupied the fore front 



'20 

in the march of civilization — when they constituted, in fact, the 
whole civilized world of their time. Trace this very civilization, of 
which we are so proud, to its origin, and see where you will find it. 
We received it from our European ancestors: — they had it from the 
Greeks and Romans, and the Jews. I'But, Sir, where did the 
Greeks, the Romans, and the Jews get it? They derived it from 
Ethiopia and Egypt, — in one word— from Africa. Moses, we aro 
told, was instructed in all the learning of the Egyptians. The foun- 
ders of the principal Grecian cities — such as Athens, Thebes, and 
Delphi — came from Egypt, and for centuries afterwards, their de- 
scendants returned to that country, as the source and centre of civ- 
ilization. There it was that the generous and stirring spirits of the 
time — Herodotus, Homer, Plato, Pythagoras, and the rest, made 
their noble voyages of intellectual and moral discovery, as ours now 
make them ia England, France, Germany, and Italy. Sir, the 
Egyptians were the masters of the Greeks and Jews, and conse- 
quently of all the modern nations in civilization, and they had carri- 
ed it very nearly as far — in some respects, perhaps, a good deal fur- 
ther than any subsequent people. The ruins of the Egyptian tem- 
ples laugh to scorn the architectural monuments of any other part 
of the world. They will be, what they are now, the delight and ad- 
miration of travellers from all quarters, when the grass is growing 
on the sites of St. Peter's and St. Paul's, — the present pride of Rome 
and London. 

Well, Sir, who were the Egyptians? They were Africans: — and 
of what race ? It is sometimes pretended, that, though Africans, 
and of Ethiopian extraction, they were not black. But what says 
the father of history — who had travelled among them, and knew 
their appearance as well as we know that ot our neighbors in Can- 
ada? Sir, Herodotus tells you that the Egyptians were blacks, with 
curled hair. Some writers have undertaken to dispute his authori- 
ty, but I cannot bring myself to believe, that the father of history 
did not know black from white. It seems, therefore, for this very 
civilization of which we are so proud, and which is the only ground 
of our present claim of superiority, we are indebted to the ancestors 
of these very blacks, whom we are pleased to consider as naturally 
incapable of civilization. 

So much for the supposed inferiority of the colored race, and their 
incapacity to make any progress in civilization and improvement. — 
And it is worth while, Mr. President, to remark, that the prejudice 
which is commonly entertained in this country, but which does not 
exist to any thing like the same extent in Europe, against the color of 
the blacks, seems to have grown out of the unnatural position which 
they occupy among us. At the period to which I just alluded, when 
the blacks took precedence of the whites in civilization, science and 
political power, no such prejudice appears to have existed. The 
early Greek writers speak of the Ethiopians and Egyptians as a su- 
perior variety of the species: — superior, not merely in intellectual 
and moral qualities, but what may seem to be much more remarka- 
ble, in outward appearance. The Ethiopians, says Herodotus, ex- 
cel all other nations in longevity, stature, and personal beauty. — 



21 

The black prince, Memnon, who served among the Trojan auxilia- 
ries at the siege of Troy, (probably nn Egyptian prince,) is con- 
stantly spoken of by the Greek and Latin writers, as a person of 
extraordinary beauty, and is qualified as the son of Aurora, or the 
Morning. There are, in short, no traces of any prejudice whatever 
ngainst the color of the blacks, like that which has grown up in 
modern times, and which is obviously the result of the relative con- 
dition of the two races. This prejudice forms at present, as was 
correctly observed by President Madison in one of his speeches in 
the late Virginia Convention, the chief obstacle to the practical im- 
provement of the condition of that portion of them who reside in 
this country." 

Coming as this testimony does, from a distinguished member o f 
the Colonization Society, I trust it will make some impression upon 
your mind, and upon the minds of other gentlemen in Canterbury, 
who have all at once come to take such a deep interest in the oper- 
ations of that Society.* I have however one word more to say be- 
fore I leave this topic. If it were true, that the African members of 
the human family are naturally inferior to others, would n ot this be 
a very strong argument with correct reasoncrs, no less than with be- 
nevolent men, in favor of their being aided by peculiar assistance, 
ay, with every possible facility for improvement? Surely it would 
be, methinks, unless they can be shown to be insusceptible of im- 
provement. 

But Sir, that even you do not consider them thus incapable of im- 
provement, is evident enough from what you have said may be 
done for them, on the other side of the Atlantic. It is then only 
their being improved in America that you object to. The thought 
of encouraging or even permitting colored men to rise, if they can, 
tu an equality with us, even us! white ones (who have no doubt de- 
parted quite as much as they have from the original complexion of 
our race) — the thought, that they should ever be partakers with us, 
even us ! in all the privileges of' this land of equal rights, this is a 
thought, which seems to have maddened you and other gentlemen 
who have been preeminent in this region for their republican zeal! 
Surely the heart of man is deceitful above all things! 

I shall leave with you what I should say on this point also, in the 
words of Mr. Everett, who has set forth what I believe to be true, 
far better than I could. 

"I was not, Mr. President — if so humble an individual may be per- 
mitted to allude to his own private sentiments, upon a subject of so 
much interest — I was not, in the first instance, very favorably im- 
pressed in regard to the character of (his institution. Looking at it 
as it has been sometimes represented, as intended chiefly to remove 
from this country the colored portion of the population, I was in- 
clined to consider it as an inadequate instrument for effecting an ob- 

*1 have reason to believe that neither Andrew T. Judson, Esq., nor indeed 
any of the Civil Authority and Select Men of Canterbury were members of 
the Colonization Society, or expressed any interest in it, uutil the excitement 
against Miss Crandall. 



22 

j«ct hi Itsslf impracticable, und which, if it could be effected, would 
l>e, after all, of doubtful utility. The pecuuiary means at the dis- 
posal of the Association never have been, and probably never will 
be, sufficient to pay the expenses of the transportation to Africa of a 
tenth part of the annual increase of the colored people. It is quite 
clear, therefore, that there could be no prospect of ever making any 
approach in this way, to a removal of the whole mass. And Sir, if 
this could be effected, why should we desire it? Is there not ample 
room and verge enough in our vast territory for the population of all 
colors, classes and descriptions ? Is it not our true policy rather, as 
far as possible, to induce emigration from abroad, than to endeavor 
to remove two or three millions of our present inhabitants? What- 
ever may be the case in the crowded countries of the Old World, 
here at least, thank God, there is no pressure of population upon 
the means of subsistence. Sir, it is literally true in this country, 
that the harvest is many and the laborers few. And this being the 
case, shall the little accident of the different color which it has pleas- 
ed Providence to give to their complexion, render an entire varie- 
ty of our fellow-men so odious to us, that we cannot abide them in 
the same continent? Suppose, Sir, tiiat you or I, or any individual, 
had it in his power, by a mere act of the will, to change the color 
of the whole black race to white, would it be a proof of good sense 
and good feehug to exercise the power? Suppose that an individu- 
al had it in his power by an act of the will, to change all the black 
eyes in this assembly to blue? Would he think it worth while to 
exercise it? Sir, one of these operations would be just as judi- 
cious as the other. The attempt to break down the beautiful va- 
riety that pervades all the works of Providence into a tame and mo- 
notonous sameness, is every way objectionable. To desire the re- 
moval of two millions of our population, merely because their com- 
plexion indifferent from that of the rest, would be inconsistent with 
any corroct principles of taste, morals, or political economy. No 
Sir, I am quite willing that the colored people should remain with 
us. What we really ought to desire is, that their present political 
situation should be improved, that they should be, in the language of 
Curran, redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled — that they should 
be placed, in short, on an equal footing in point of civil and politi- 
cal rights, with all the other inhabitants of our favored country. — 
This, Sir, is a change which ought to be effected— which must, at 
some time or other, be effected — which, I have no hesitation in say- 
ing, will, at no very distant period be effected." 

That my own sentiments are perfectly accordant with Mr. Ever- 
ett's, you may see in my published discourse, which was delivered Ju- 
ly 3d 1831. No one surely will deny, that it is benevolent to provido 
a retreat on some iar distant shore for any of our countrymen, who 
may wish to escape from oppression at home. But there are many 
who deny that it is right to make any, even the blackest, wish to 
emigrate by cherishing our wicked prejudices against them, or with- 
holding from them any of the privileges which our country affords. 
And there are many too, who have satisfied themselves that it can 
never be in the power of the Colonizatioa Society to transport so 



mb ioa 



23 

many of our colored brethren every year to the shores of Africa, as 
to make any sensible dimunition in their numbers; even if so many 
could be made willing to go. For my own part, I would as soon un- 
dertake to remove our Alleghany mountains across the great deep, 
in any given time, as I would to transport in the same time hoo mill- 
ions, Jive hundred thousand human beings with their annual increase 
of sixty-two thousand, and prepare the wilds of Africa for their re- 
ception. Sir, there never will be fewer colored people in this land 
than there are now. They must then be admitted to the full exer- 
cise of all their rights, as men, here. The reason, and the only rea- 
son why the Colonization Society is losing favor with many truo 
philanthropists in the land, is that sentiments are continually dis- 
seminated in its publications, which tend to perpetuate the degrada- 
tion of our colored brethren, and put further off the day, when they 
will be permitted freely to enjoy with us the blessings of this favor- 
ed portion of the earth. For six or eight years past I have been a 
member of this Society. But I have come to be so doubtful of tho 
tendency of its operations, that I shall probably soon withdraw. 
Should the late procedure at Canterbury be accepted as promotive 
of its real objects, sure am I that the worst suspicions that have 
been awakened of it, would be confirmed in the bosom of every true 
friend to our colored brethren. But I cannot believe it will be. — 
Many Colonizationists at the South may perhaps applaud what you 
have done, and threaten still to do; but there are many in New Eng- 
land who will condemn your proceedings as heartily as I do. Oth- 
ers besides Mr. Everett acknowledge the rights of the colored peo- 
ple to a full participation in the privileges of American citizens; and 
insist that they ought to be educated. I would particularly refer you 
to the closing remarks of the review of "Mr. Garrison's Thoughts 
on Colonization" in the last No. of the Christian Spectator, suppos- 
ed to have been written by Rev. Mr. Bacon of New-Haven, a zeal- 
ous member of the Colonization Society. 

Had I roooa I could easily bring forward other sentiments from 
other gentlemen who are members of the Colonization Society, ve- 
ry little in accordance with those uttered by yourself and others at 
the meeting, and since published in the Norwich papers. But I 
must hasten to notice one or two more of your allegations. 

It has often been charged upon those, who advocate the aboli- 
tion of Slavery, that they are aiming to amalgamate the blacks 
and the whites. This string was harped upon at the town meeting 
by all the opposers of Miss Crandall. It served to shock the pre- 
judices of the people, and dupe their judgment. The same charge 
is repeated in the Norwich papers to the same effect, so that I am 
compelled to take some notice of it. And I now call upon you, 
and others who have brought this accusation to prove it, if you 
can. I know and am sure, that such is not one of the intentions 
or wishes of the Anti Slavery Society, nor of any Abolitionists 
that 1 am acquainted with. Of course we do not believe there are 
any barriers established by God between the two races. If there 
were any, the complexions of tens of thousands in our land show 
to our disgrace that those barriers are not impassable. Whether 



Carriages 3hall or shall not take place between those of different 
colore, id a matter which time must be left to decide. We do not 
advocate them, we do not hope to see them, we only say that such 
connections would be incomparably more honorable to the whites, 
as well as more consistent with the laws of God, and the virtue of 
our nation, than that illicit intercourse which is now so common 
especially at the south. 

As to your charge that we advocate the immediate emancipa- 
tion of the slaves in our country, it is true. We do so from the 
deep conviction, that few if any sins can be more heinous, than 
holding fellow men in bondage and degradation; and in the assur- 
ance that men cannot leave off sinning too suddenly. So long as 
we believe there is a wise and good Being presiding over the af- 
fairs of men, so long we must believe that it will be safe for men 
to do right at any moment. Persons who are alarmed at the doc- 
trine of immediate emancipation, forget that the same civil arm 
which now holds the slaves in bondage would still be stretched 
over them, when free laborers, to keep them in due subjection to 
righteous laws. And that when free they may be brought more 
effectually under the soothing and sanctifying influences of Reli- 
gion. I am unwilling to pass from this topic without making all 
the remarks I intended. But I have not room to enlarge.* 

By reiterating the charges, I have now been considering, you 
and your coadjutors succeeded in effecting your purpose. You 
procured from the inhabitants of Canterbury an expression of 
their unqualified disapprobation of Miss Crandall's project. But 
remember Sir, this does not prove that Miss Crandall's project is 
an unworthy one. Far otherwise. The purest and best under- 
takings have often been opposed. There are those, who, deeply 
persuaded of the importance of doing what we may to meliorate 
the condition of our colored people; and believing that Miss C. is 
actuated by right motives, will do all in their power (not to injure 
Canterbury) but to sustain her school. I sincerely hope Sir, that 
you and your neighbors will see your mistake, and by upholding 
instead of overthrowing this institution, secure to your town tha 
high praise of being first in this great "labor of Love." 
Yours, 

SAMUEL J. MAY. 



*My views are given at soma length in my Discourse on "Slavery in tha 
United Statei." 



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